Vice Admiral James
Bond Stockdale (December 23, 1923 – July 5, 2005)
was one of the most highly decorated officers in the
history of the United States Navy. Shot down over enemy
territory in 1965, Stockdale was the highest ranking
naval officer held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He
was released in 1973. He was awarded 26 personal combat
decorations, including the Medal of Honor and four
Silver Stars.

Stockdale led the U.S. air squadron during the 1964
Gulf of Tonkin Incident. During the late 1970s, he
served as President of the Naval War College. Stockdale
is also remembered as a Vice Presidential candidate in
the 1992 election, on Ross Perot's independent ticket.

Early life and career

Stockdale was born in Abingdon, Illinois. During
World War II, he attended the Naval Academy, where he
graduated in 1947. Stockdale always spoke with great
love and respect about his father who went to great
lengths to get him into Annapolis. Stockdale promised
his dad he would be the best midshipman at the Naval Academy and always thought of this
promise when he became a prisoner. About his time at the Naval Academy, he would
later say "[Plebe] year of education under stress was of great personal
survival value to me."

Shortly after graduating, Stockdale reported to
Pensacola, Florida, for flight training. In 1954,
Stockdale was accepted into the Test Pilot School at
Patuxent River, Maryland. Among his classmates there was
John Glenn. Stockdale was always interested in
philosophy and returned to Stanford University to
continue his education in 1960. He was awarded a master's degree two
years later. He shone so much in academics, his superiors urged
him to get a doctorate and become an academic. Stockdale
preferred the life of a fighter pilot, but later credited
philosophy with helping him cope as a prisoner of war.

Vietnam War

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

On August 4, 1964,
squadron commander Stockdale was one of the US pilots
flying overhead during the second alleged attack of the
Gulf of Tonkin Incident; unlike the first attack, this
one is believed to have been a false alarm. In the early
1990s, he recounted: "[I] had the best seat in the house
to watch that event, and our destroyers were just
shooting at phantom targets—there were no PT boats
there.... There was nothing there but black water and
American fire power." Stockdale said his superiors
ordered him to keep quiet about this. After he was
captured, this knowledge threw a burden upon him. He
later said he was concerned that his captors would
eventually force him to reveal that he knew this
terrible secret about the Vietnam War.

Prisoner of war

On a mission over North Vietnam on September 9, 1965,
Stockdale ejected from his A-4E Skyhawk, which had been disabled
from anti-aircraft fire. Stockdale parachuted into a small
village, where he was severely beaten and taken into custody.

He was held as a prisoner of war in the Hoa Lo prison for the
next seven years. Locked in leg irons in a bath stall, he was
routinely tortured and beaten. When told by his captors that he
was to be paraded in public, Stockdale slit his scalp with a
razor to purposely disfigure himself so that his captors could
not use him as propaganda. When they covered his head with a
hat, Stockdale beat himself with a stool until his face was
swollen beyond recognition. He told them in no uncertain terms
that they would never use him. When Stockdale heard that other
prisoners were dying under the torture, he slit his wrists and
told them that he preferred death to submission.

Little did Stockdale know that the actions of his wife, Mrs.
Sybil Stockdale, had a tremendous impact on how the North
Vietnamese reacted to these acts of self-mutilation in 1969.
Early in her husband's captivity she organized The League of
American Families of POW's and MIA's, with other wives of
servicemen who were in similar circumstance. By 1968 she and her
organization, which called for the President and the U.S.
Congress to publicly acknowledge the mistreatment of the POW's
(something that they had never done even though they had
evidence of gross mistreatment), was finally getting the
attention of the American press and consequently the attention
of the North Vietnamese. Mrs. Stockdale personally made these
demands known at The Paris Peace Talks and private comments made
to her by the head of the Vietnamese delegation there indicated
concern that her organization might catch the attention of the
American public, something the North Vietnamese knew could turn
the tide against them. The result couldn't have been more
fortunate for James Stockdale at the very time he slit his
wrists. The Vietnamese now understood that they had no choice
but to end their program of brutal torture or else they would be
exposed internationally for their gross acts of cruelty,
something that would completely derail their propaganda program
which had so successfully convinced the American press and
public that the prisoners were well treated.

Return to the United States

Stockdale was released as a prisoner of war on February 12,
1973. His shoulders had been wrenched from their sockets, his
leg shattered by angry villagers and a torturer, and his back
broken. But he had refused to capitulate. [1]

He received the Medal of Honor in 1976. Stockdale filed
charges against two other officers whom he felt had given aid
and comfort to the enemy. However, the Navy Department took no
action and merely retired these men.

Debilitated by his captivity and mistreatment, Stockdale
could hardly walk or even stand upright upon his return to the
U.S. The Navy, out of respect for his courage, kept him on the
active list, steadily promoting him over the next few years
before permitting him to retire as a vice admiral. He completed
his career by serving as President of the Naval War College,
from October 13, 1977 until August 22, 1979.

Civilian academic career and writings

After his retirement in 1979, he became the president of The
Citadel in South Carolina. He left The Citadel to become a
fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 1981.
During the following two decades, Stockdale wrote a number of
books both on his experiences during the Vietnam War and
afterwards, and on philosophy. With his articulate frankness, as
well as his heroism and status as the highest-ranking Vietnam
POW, Stockdale attained tremendous credibility among Vietnam
veterans.

His best known work is In Love and War: the Story of a
Family's Ordeal and Sacrifice During the Vietnam War, co-written
with his wife Sybil and published in 1984. It is a compilation
of love letters he sent to his wife while he was a captured POW.
It was later made into an NBC television movie, watched by 45
million people.

Final years

Stockdale retired to Coronado, California, as he slowly
succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. He died from the
mind-debilitating illness on July 5, 2005. Stockdale's funeral
service was held at the Naval Academy Chapel and he was buried
at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery.

A luxury suite at the Loews Annapolis Hotel, the hotel where
Perot announced his candidacy, was named in his honor.

In January 2006, the Navy announced that a ship would be named
for him. Quotes

"The worse thing that can happen is death, and that's
not the worst thing in the world either."

In a personal letter: "Do the right thing even if it
means dying like a dog when no one's there to see you do
it." -mcode

"The test of character is not 'hanging in' when you
expect light at the end of the tunnel, but performance of
duty, and persistence of example when you know no light is
coming.

* This Article copied from Wikipedia.
See there for more information on his civilian and Vice
Presidential Career